Tinubu Allocates EFCC Recovered Property
President Bola Tinubu has allocated a property recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) as its new headquarters.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this during the commissioning of the facility in Abuja.
Tijani said the allocation followed the commission’s concerns about its growing responsibilities and the need for a permanent office that matched its expanding role in Nigeria’s digital economy.
The minister said the property had been recovered through the work of the EFCC before being converted into a government facility for the NDPC. He described the development as an example of recovered assets being put to productive use for the benefit of Nigerians.
Tijani also spoke about the financial challenges the commission faced during its early years. He said the agency struggled to meet some of its obligations, including salaries, before receiving direct financial support from the President.
According to him, the support was provided while the commission worked towards generating enough revenue to sustain its operations.
The minister said Tinubu signed the Nigeria Data Protection Act in 2023, shortly after assuming office.
The law gave the commission a stronger legal foundation to regulate data protection and protect the privacy rights of Nigerians.
He added that the President later directed ministries, departments and agencies to comply with the country’s data protection laws and frameworks.
Tijani said the need for data protection would continue to grow as Nigeria expands its digital economy, with more government services moving online and businesses relying on personal information to create value.
He also pointed to the increasing use of artificial intelligence, saying it had made privacy, data governance and responsible technology use more important.
Speaking at the event, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, said the commission received approval for the property from the EFCC in July 2025, while renovation work began in March 2026.
Olatunji said the new headquarters marked a major change for an agency that started operations in February 2022 with about 12 employees and no dedicated funding.
He recalled that he initially used personal funds to support the commission’s operations before it received ₦50m from the National Information Technology Development Agency in September 2022.
The commissioner said the NDPC had since licensed 356 Data Protection Compliance Organisations, while the activities of the commission and the licensed organisations had contributed to the creation of more than 27,000 jobs within three years.
He added that the agency had generated over ₦12bn in revenue during the period, while the wider data privacy and protection sector had grown to a value of more than ₦18bn.
Olatunji further disclosed that more than 66,000 Nigerians had enrolled in the commission’s virtual privacy academy, while 220 training programmes had reached 99,370 people.
He said the NDPC had also established 17 data privacy clubs in universities, recruited 6,176 student ambassadors and reached more than 250,000 Nigerians through its public engagement activities.
The commissioner said representatives from 17 countries had visited Nigeria within the past two years to learn from the agency’s work.
He added that the NDPC had signed 28 memoranda of understanding with organisations and data protection authorities in countries including Canada, Morocco, Liberia, Kenya and Ghana.
The commission’s Head of People Management and Administration, Watira Fitto, said the new headquarters reflected the agency’s growth since its establishment.
Fitto said the NDPC had operated from four locations within four years, moving from a limited number of offices at NITDA to larger facilities in Maitama and Asokoro.
She said the new building in Mbora District, Abuja, has about 56 office spaces and would provide more room for the commission’s operations as it takes on a wider role in regulating data protection and safeguarding the rights of Nigerians.
